The Child
by j1ack
Summary: Ginny is pregnant with her first child, but complications have arisen.  The healers say that there is nothing they can do, but Hermione has another idea.  All canon couples. Please R&R.
1. They Call It Voodoo

Nothing seemed different about today. It was just another average, if somewhat overworked, day as Assistant Chief of the Auror Department. Harry had become an Auror officially about two years after Voldemort's demise, and had married Ginny a year after that. Two years after what _Witch Weekly_ called "The Wedding of the Century," Harry had found his wife very pregnant with their first child. The healers at St. Mungo's said that it would be a girl and that Ginny was due in three months, although they said that the risk of complications for this particular pregnancy were particularly high. The healers recommended that Ginny stay at home for the duration of the pregnancy, and she should also avoid all forms of magical travel. This happened to include apparation. Under any other circumstance Harry knew that Ginny would hate staying at home, but she never complained.

So what made this particular day very _not_ average was the fact that Ginny was nowhere to be seen when Harry arrived at Grimmauld Place that evening.

"Ginny!" He called out; there was no answer.

Harry continued to make his way through the house, which Ginny had made quite a bit more cheerful during the past few months, although despite several well attempted attempts (one involving trying to take the wall down) they still couldn't get rid of the portrait of Mrs. Black. She also managed to keep the entire house immaculate. Harry guessed that she must be going insane if she was resorting to housework to pass the time.

When Harry finally managed to get to the kitchen (Kreacher had a nasty habit of nagging him about taking his coat or asking Harry if he wanted some other nicety from the moment he walked in the door) he noticed a note with Ginny's scribbled cursive on it. Being a star Quidditch player for the Holyhead Harpies certainly had its perks, but for one thing it certainly didn't improve one's handwriting.

Harry's face fell as his eyes quickly scanned the short note once, twice, and then a third time. Harry disapperated on the spot.

Ron and Hermione were already at Ginny's bedside in room A28. Ron was trying to make himself look busy by rearranging some white lilies in a glass vase on Ginny's bedside table that had clearly been rearranged one time too many. Hermione was leaning in very close to Ginny, and it appeared that they were having a very intimate conversation. Ron saw Harry enter first and cleared his throat. Hermione looked up and saw Harry. She gave him a small smile, and the couple made for the door, linking hands as they walked out.

Harry rushed to her bedside and had her in his arms before the water works began.

"Harry," Ginny sobbed, "I didn't know what to do... I know they told me not to apparate, but there was so much blood..."

"Shh, it's okay," Harry whispered back, and they just stayed in each other's arms for what felt like eternity.

When some amount of time had passed, Harry realized that Ginny had fallen asleep. Harry maneuvered himself out of Ginny's embrace and walked out of the room looking for a healer.

He learned from the healer operating the desk that Ginny's healer was dealing with another patient on another level, and he would be back in five to ten minutes. Harry wanted to go chase him down, through the entire hospital if necessary, but his common sense told him that even if it didn't feel like he was doing anything, he would be helping Ginny more if he just sat down and waited.

Five minutes passed, then ten, then twenty. Harry was just about to go on an angry rampage through the hospital when he recognized Ginny's healer walking swiftly toward him.

Harry rose from his chair to greet her. "How is she?"

"She is fine. However, the baby isn't doing as well. I believe that we did tell Ginny not to apparate, and the fact that she did complicated things much more severely."

"But she said that there was blood! What was she supposed to do, just sit around and hope it went away?" Harry said with indignation."

"What I'm trying to say, Mr. Potter, is that there seemed to be a complication earlier this afternoon. The fact that she apparated here instead of contacting us made it worse."

"You can't be blaming this on her. She has been doing everything in her power to protect this baby, and I will _not_ let you put the blame on her," Harry said, trying to keep his voice at a reasonable level for indoors.

"I'm not blaming anyone. I'm trying to point out the fact that at this point, only a miracle would be able to save your unborn child. There's nothing that magic can do for you." The healer hurriedly walked away as if she had something better to do.

Harry walked up to the healer at the desk and said, "I would like to request a change of healer for my wife, Ginevera Potter."

"Is there a particular healer that you would like, Mr. Potter?"  
>"No, I'm sure anyone would do."<p>

Harry caught up with Ron and Hermione as he was walking down to get something to drink.

"Hermione, the healer said that there's nothing they can do, so I requested another healer," Harry said.

"Harry, I looked at the charts. She was right," Hermione replied.

"Hermione, this is magic we are talking about here. We're not trying to raise the dead or anything impossible; I just want to save my unborn child is that so much to ask!" Harry's voice had gradually increased in volume, which had caused more than a few stares.

Ron ushered him to a table, and Hermione followed. The trio sat down as Hermione calmly said, "If you would just let me explain what I had in mind, then perhaps you wouldn't have the overwhelming need to raise your voice."

"Come on Hermione, what do you know?" Harry asked.

"There is a certain branch of magic, although it is outlawed in Britain and has been ever since 1782; however, it is still being practiced in some southern portions of the United States. They say that it can give the user influence over the physical body of another human being." Hermione sighed softly as she did when she was about to admit something that she wasn't sure that she should be admitting. "They call it voodoo."


	2. The Library

It felt like he was back at Hogwarts again. The trio was in a library. Hermione was doing intent research on matters of life or death, while Ron and Harry sat around waiting for her to find something. Although unlike at Hogwarts, this was a muggle library with muggle books and a muggle librarian and no restricted section where they kept books with ghosts inside of them that yelled menacingly if you decided to read them.

They had been there for almost an hour, waiting for Hermione to find something. Ron and Harry had initially offered to help Hermione, but when she plopped two several hundred page books in front of them with print about as tall as a piece of hair, they both gave up after about ten minutes.

Hermione had seemed to found what she had needed, because she stood abruptly and closed her current tome with a resounding thud. The librarian, who seemed to be as strict as Madam Pince, gave her a sharp glare, which Hermione pointedly ignored.

The three walked out of the library and onto the Muggle street as they listened to Hermione share her findings.

"All of the Muggle evidence points to Louisiana being the most likely place in the US where we would be able to find someone who could help. Although I will need to do more research, I think I might have a name and a location.

"In the nineteenth century, a Marie Laveau was rumored to have trained many in her practice, calling them her "daughters." While they weren't her blood relatives, they were about as close to her as that, and they knew as much about voodoo as she did. These women passed it on, and those women passed it on, etcetera. All I need to do is go to the library to figure out where the women who currently practice the art might be living now. From what I've read, voodoo practitioners tend to live outside of small towns or villages, and are always very reclusive."

"Wait, Hermione," Ron interrupted, "Didn't we just come from the library?"

"Don't be silly, Ron. That was a muggle library. The only reason that I went in there was because along with banning the practice of voodoo, they also banned all texts related to the subject. A wizarding library is what I now need."

Hermione walked ahead a few paces, while Harry and Ron lagged behind.

"Did you know that wizarding libraries even exi—"

"Do I look like I had any idea?" Ron replied and went to catch up with Hermione.

Where Hermione was leading them was not to some out-of-the-way mysterious wizarding library, but in fact back to St. Mungo's.

"Hermione are you mad? If we get caught with all of those notes you took on voodoo, even Harry won't be able to keep himself out of Azkaban!" Ron whispered in a rather animated fashion. If his intention was to lower his voice so as to not attract onlookers, he certainly failed when several passersby gave him an odd look when he began flailing his arms about like an imprisoned monkey.

"We are just going to go inside the hospital to floo to the library; it will only be a few minutes. Flooing is actually the only way that you can get in or out; it prevents people from stealing books. And plus, technically this isn't the first time that we've done something illegal."

"Yes, but those rules were set down by a man imperioused by a tyrannical madman who was trying to kill us for being alive! This is actually something legitimately illegal, and probably for good reason!"

Harry put a hand on Ron's shoulder as they rounded a corner. "Ron if you don't stop waving your arms around like you are pretending to be a flag, we are all going to be dead, so just stop."

Harry turned to address Hermione. "As for you, Ron actually has a valid point."

"Thank you, Harry," Ron said graciously.

"Live in the glory while you still can, mate," Harry responded.

"The only reason voodoo was made illegal was because its power was being misused. When voodoo first originated, the Voodoo Queens, who are the practitioners of the art, were very selective about which witches they chose to become their successors. Some never picked anyone, and all the things they discovered died with them. They only trained the most humble and caring witches. They were very intent that voodoo only be used for good, because they knew that it could be very powerful in the wrong hands. And yes, Ron," Hermione added when she saw the question written across his face, "They only picked girls because they thought that women were more level-headed and talented than men. All of this changed when a young wizard stole a book of spells from one of the Voodoo Queens and brought it back to Britain. The people who learned the spells within this book used them in terrible ways. They used the magic similar to how one would use an Imperious Curse, except with voodoo, you can make the person do anything, even kill themselves. The Ministry decreed that voodoo was unsafe for the common welfare, and they banished it with the punishment of a life sentence in Azkaban.

"Here we are then," Hermione said gesturing to the floo grates with an I-know-that-I-know-everything-and-you-don't smile.

When Harry first stepped out of the fireplace and into the library, the only word he could think of was big. Harry thought of the Great Hall at Hogwarts, but even that paled in comparison to a room five or six times bigger. The whole room was actually a giant circle, with the check out table in the middle, tables for reading or writing around the check-out table, and an innumerable of shelves around the tables. About twenty or thirty fireplaces lined the walls all around the building. The roof was a huge dome shape and was made from glass. This allowed the entire room to be illuminated by natural light. While Harry and Ron stood in awe, Hermione brushed past them and walked toward the desk, where she began chatting with one of the librarians like they were good friends.

Harry nudged Ron and gestured toward one of the empty tables, as there was a large group of people coming in behind them. They sat down, and Hermione followed suit a few minutes later but not without a huge stack of books.

"I thought all the voodoo books were banned," Ron said.

"As shocking as this may seem to you Ron, knowing very well the librarian who thinks that all books should be treasured and saved does actually have its advantages."

Harry then proceeded to fall asleep, as did Ron. By the time Hermione woke them, it was already night. Someone had levitated thousands of candles into the air just a few centimeters above the tops of the bookshelves.

"I've got it," Hermione whispered holding up a piece of scribbled on paper.


	3. The House in the Middle of Nowhere

"Okay, so I guess I'll be the one staying behind."

Harry and Ron looked at each other, then at Hermione.

"Are you insane? Why should we split up?" Ron asked unbelievingly.

They had left the library and were now in a Muggle pub. The risk of being overheard in a wizarding pub was too great.

"Because," Hermione explained, "someone needs to stay behind with Ginny. Don't you agree that if there are more problems, Ginny shouldn't be alone?"

"We don't know where this voodoo person lives, and we don't know anything about her. We need you to come with us, Hermione," Harry said.

Hermione slid a picture across the table. "This is where you will need to apparate to. Lauren Crouix, that is the voodoo person's name, Ron, has used voodoo to set up a unique type of anti-apparation field for several miles around her house. You also won't be able to use any magical form of travel. So it looks like you will be trucking through the marshy wetlands of southern Louisiana by foot," Hermione said with a smile. "If you need to contact me, send a patronus." She then turned and left the pub without a backward glance.

"Well that's annoying," Ron said with a snort.

* * *

><p>The two boys arrived on a small patch of land in the middle of a marsh. Greenish-brown water surrounded them and stretched out to the horizon. Patches of land were cropped up randomly for as far as the eye could see. Both Ron and Harry were thinking of the horrors that might await them if they tried to cross this horrendous landscape. Luckily, they didn't have to.<p>

"What are you doing, just standin' there?" A man, probably in his early thirties, was standing in a airboatbehind where they had apparated. Harry and Ron immediately drew their wands, but the man seemed unfazed by this threat. "I'm guessin' that you'll be wanting to see Laura. That's that only reason anyone ever apparates this far into the marsh."

"Who are you, and how do you know Laura?" Harry asked.

"Technically, I can't tell you, so you'll have to just hop in and trust me, or you could just trudge through the marsh in a random direction, hoping that you will find who you are looking for. Your choice, really, but I don't see it as much of a choice."

Harry and Ron looked at each other then back at the man.

"So how far is it?"

* * *

><p>Hermione stepped out into the cool night air and began to make her way back to St. Mungo's. Even she didn't think that it was a good idea to leave the two boys alone, she knew that whatever they would decide would involve one of them staying behind to stay with Ginny, and she knew that it wouldn't be Ron or Harry. They were both too active to understand that the person who stayed behind would be doing something equally as important as the two actively doing something.<p>

When Hermione walked into Ginny's room, she was sleeping, or at least that's what Hermione immediately assumed. Her assumption was proven wrong, because Ginny immediately rose and said, "The doctors told me to sleep, but I couldn't."

"That's understandable."

"I know, but I would rather be sleeping. Then I don't have to think about the things that worry me the most." Ginny looked down and sighed. As if suddenly noticing her husband and brother's absence, she asked, "Where have Ron and Harry gone?"

"They have gone away on... business. You know how working helps them to keep their minds off the things that worry _them_ the most."

"As long as they come back soon, especially Harry."

* * *

><p>"You do know where you are going, right?" Ron asked. He thought that they had passed the same tree at least four times, although he had to admit that every tree looked pretty much the same.<p>

"Oh, no. I know exactly where I am going; however, you do not. So I would appreciate you not questioning my navigational skills, especially so close to my own house."

Ron and Harry looked at each other, then Harry asked, "So you live... near...Linda?"

"I'm afraid not," the man said. He waggled his left ring finger at the duo of boys and said, "Married seven years now."

"I see. So you don't know anything about voodoo yourself? Because only women can know voodoo?" Harry asked.

"I see you've done your homework. Most who come up here don't, and they jump on the opportunity to get something out of me because what they need is, 'so desperately urgent.' Some people just don't know that everyone who comes out here is desperately urgent. I don't think you could come out here if you were just passing through, what with the alligators and giant swamp flies and venomous tentacula."

"Harry," Ron whispered while the man was talking, "I'm entirely positive that we have passed that _exact_ same tree at least six times now. There's no way this guy really knows where he's going."

"Actually, as I have said before, I do know exactly where I am going," the man said with a fair amount of impatience. "Once more around that tree and we will be there. You should also learn to whisper better."

Much to both Harry and Ron's surprise, after the airboat traveled once more around the tree, a wooden house on stilts appeared where there was empty space before. Actually, the house looked so much like the landscape behind it that it might as well have been there the whole time. The wood that the house was made of was more green than brown, and it looked so rotted that Harry concluded that there must be magic holding it together. There was a set of stairs leading up to a porch, which had a single wooden rocking chair on it that looked as if a gust of wind, let alone someone sitting on it, might reduce it to a pile of sticks.

The man maneuvered the airboat toward the small dock, where he then securely tied the boat to the dock, although the pole didn't look as if it could stand one more knot.

The man gestured up the stairs. "After you."


	4. Laura Crouix

The floorboards creaked as the three men walked into the room. The inside of the Crouix's house was, unlike Harry expected, very similar to the outside. A table and a few tables sat on the left side of the room, while a stove and a few cabinets were on the right side. A threadbare rug was spread in between them.

"Honey! We have visitors!" the man called into the room, and then a door materialized on the far wall. A woman stepped out, wiping her slender hands on a tattered old rag. Her long blonde hair reached her mid back, and she was dressed in a flowing dress with a brown, green, and pink flower print. Her forest green eyes reminded Ron of Harry's eye color. She looked to be younger than the man, but not by much.

"Well hello there, boys! I see you've met Henry already, and you probably know that I am Laura." Henry scowled. "Oh, don't tell me you did that whole 'I-won't-tell-you-my-name' routine again. Honestly, Henry, you can be so childish sometimes." She gestured to the chairs on her right. "Please, sit down," she said with a smile.

Harry and Ron sat slowly, as if to test that the chairs wouldn't break under the stress.

"Would you like something to drink?" she asked. "Water, coffee, tea?"

"None for me, thanks," Harry responded.

"Ah, all the way from Britain! Then again, I have had people from all over the world coming here seeking my help. So what is it that you need?"

"My wife is pregnant, and there have been complications. The healers say that there is nothing that they can do and that the baby will most probably be lost, but a friend of ours said that you could help."

"I see. Do you have something of your wife's?"

Harry pulled out a lock of Ginny's hair that Hermione told him to bring. "Will this do?"

Laura smiled. "Yes, that will do perfectly." She reached for the center of the table, and a battered metal box appeared. The lid opened away from where Ron and Harry were sitting, so they could not see the contents of the box, but Laura pulled a palm sized human doll made out of what looked like a potato sack. There were bits of yellow straw coming out of the various places where it was stitched together. She took some string from the box and tied the lock of Ginny's hair to the doll. She set the doll down on the table and placed her hand over it, eyes closed. After a few moments, she smiled slightly and then opened her eyes. Her face was serious once more as she told them, "I'm not sure if your unborn daughter can be saved. Unlike most Voodoo Queens, I have some divination powers, although I can not see the future of your child," she said. "I'm afraid I would have to go to your wife's side to do more detailed work, but I can not leave this place. If I could talk to your friend, Hermione, is it? Then perhaps I could tell her what to do."

"How did you know Hermione's name?" Ron asked suddenly suspicious.

"Um, divination Ron. Were you asleep or just not paying attention?"

"Oh, yeah. Sorry," Ron said, suddenly fascinated with the rotting wood of the table.

"We can get her here," Harry said.

"Have Henry take you to the apparition line. Come back quickly, though. I'm afraid you don't have much time left."

* * *

><p>"Why me? Why not Harry? He's her husband."<p>

"Yes, and you are her brother," Hermione stated. "Which means that you have equal, if not more responsibility over the poor woman lying in that room."

"But—"

"No, Ron. You will stay here, and Harry and I will return to Louisiana and come back with the cure." She gave him a stern look, like she was trying to tell a misbehaving dog to sit and stay.

"We'll be back soon. Just try not to let things go _too_ wrong in our absence," Harry said as he gave a look to Ron that clearly said _don't screw up,_ and then they were gone.

Ron walked into Ginny's room, where he saw Ginny propped up by a small mound of pillows.

Ron started to explain, but Ginny stopped him. "Don't bother, I heard the entire conversation about how you don't want to stay behind with your little sister," she said jokingly.

"Hermione and Harry are going to get help, Ginny," Ron said. "Everything is going to be okay."

Ginny then let out a loud high-pitched scream and clutched Ron's arm with one hand and placed her other hand on her belly. "Damn it, Ron, why did you have to jinx it!" she exclaimed, breathing heavily.

Several healers ran into the room. "She's going into premature labor," one of the healers yelled.

"I guess I should get out of your way then," Ron mumbled

"No way, Ronald! You are staying! Right! Here!"


	5. Giant Mosquitoes

Harry and Hermione landed in the marshy swamps of Louisiana, but there was an odd buzzing noise that was not present the first time around. Hermione let out a scream of surprise as something the size of a medium sized dog flew close enough to her head that it tangled her hair. Both Harry and Hermione had their wands out quickly, but soon became apparent that they were in more trouble than they initially realized.

There were about 15 or so of what looked like giant mosquitoes circling the duo. The mosquitoes had bright blue bodies and furry green legs, although their most frightening feature was their eyes, which were the color of blood. Besides their daunting appearance, they looked like they wanted nothing more than to rip both of the humans standing in front of them limb from limb.

"This isn't a species that I recognize," Hermione said in a calm, almost inquisitive voice. "Maybe if we can figure out what they want, we can get out of here without fighting them. Maybe we are on their territory or something."

"Um, Hermione? That thing that they want? I think we might be standing on them," Harry said, trying to keep his voice level.

Hermione looked down and discovered that they were standing in a pile of off-white looking ovals with grey spots that were pointed at the top, and half of them were broken due to their apparating on top of them. A greyish substance oozed out of them and covered their shoes.

"You know what?" Hermione asked. "I think that we can safely assume that because we killed oh, what? About half of their children? Yes, we can safely assume that we are not going out of this without a fight."

"I agree," Harry responded, and he fired a stunner at the nearest mosquito.

The stunned mosquito dropped into the brownish-green waters of the marsh, splashing everything within a close distance with a few gallons of dirty water and bits of plant life and dead things.

This seemed to serve as the catalyst for the rest of the mosquitoes to attack. Harry learned the hard way that the mosquitoes' spit was quite acidic; one glob of green spit hit him in the shoulder, which ate right through his shirt, skin, and most of the muscle, leaving a large amount of bone exposed.

Taking out the rest of the mosquitoes was easy, considering whom they had fought against in the past. After Hermione had hit the last one with a jinx Harry didn't recognize, she rushed over to aid him. He was lying on the ground, breathing in ragged breaths.

"Essence of Dittany, Essence of Dittany..." she muttered as she rummaged through her beaded handbag, which was coincidentally the exact same handbag that she carried when they were on the run from Voldemort.

"Would appreciate you hurrying up a little bit more, if you don't mind," Harry said through cringed teeth.

"Looking for this?"

A green bottle rolled toward Hermione and stopped with the label facing up. Harry could barely read it, as his vision was beginning to blacken. Suddenly his vision returned to clarity, and he felt his shoulder, which was completely healed. He sat up and looked at the mysterious stranger who supplied the liquid that saved him from blacking out, but it turned out that he wasn't a mysterious stranger at all.

"Looked like you two needed help, and you know, because I'm just jumping up and down at the opportunity to help others, I decided that I just had to come to the rescue."

"Harry, is this Henry?"

"You had to tell her my name?"

Harry would have thought that the ride back to the Crouix's house would have been somber, seeing as the fate of his unborn child relied on this voodoo stuff working. Hermione was bubbling with questions, so most of the ride was Henry's explanations to her various questions, although some he could not answer. Hermione was so involved in asking her questions, she didn't even notice that the airboat was going in circles. This surprised Harry; Hermione was usually so observant.

Hermione didn't look nearly as awed by the Crouix's ramshackle house as Ron or Harry had. Harry guessed that she must have seen something similar to this in her research.

Laura Crouix greeted both Hermione and Harry warmly, although she made a point about Henry and Harry staying outside on the porch, while she invited Hermione inside. Harry decided not to take his chances with the decrepit rocking chair and walked to the edge of the porch to look out at the swampy landscape.

After a few minutes, Henry said, "You know, Laura has never taught anyone voodoo before." He paused, and Harry turned around to face him, encouraging him to continue. "She never found a girl she trusted enough to take on as an apprentice, and she's never just taught the cure to someone before."

"What would make her want to teach Hermione, a woman she never even met until a few minutes ago, something about voodoo?" Harry asked.

"I wouldn't know, but she would. Divination, you see," Henry responded.

"I pretty much failed divination, so I wouldn't really know much about it."

"I pretty much failed everything in school, so I couldn't tell you much about anything. Kind of odd how I ended up with Laura. She was a straight O student, you see."

After he said this, Hermione banged open the fragile wooden door, and this time one of the hinges actually _did_ break off.

"I've got it. Let's go."

* * *

><p>People ran through St. Mungo's all of the time: healers, worried family members, owls that couldn't fly. So it wasn't particularly unusual that Hermione and Harry were running around corners, up stairs, and through people. They saw Ron standing outside of Ginny's room, a somber expression on his face.<p>

"Ron—"

"I'm sorry, Harry. There was nothing I could do."

Harry's face fell, and he brushed past Ron and into Ginny's room, where he saw her sitting up and looking down at her hands, which she had placed in her lap.

"Ginny..." he said as he turned her face up with his index finger. Her face was streaked with tears, both wet and dry, as if she had been crying for a long time.

She looked as if she was going to say something, but the effort reduced her to tears. Harry pulled her into an embrace, whispering comforting things into her ear, but she continued to cried into his shoulder.

* * *

><p><strong>AN: Wow! Finally done! As of now, this is going to be the last chapter; however, if I get enough reviews/messages in my inbox, I might consider continuing. Hope you liked it!**


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